Christoph Daum has coached a number of clubs in his long coaching career. Three of his former clubs will hold a joint memorial service for the coach, who died on August 24th.
As the two Bundesliga clubs Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart as well as the second division club 1. FC Köln announced on Wednesday, the clubs will bid farewell to Daum together on September 12. The memorial service will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Cologne stadium.
“Where he was at home, on the pitch, on the green grass, one last time in front of a full house in the RheinEnergieStadion,” the statement said. Friends, acquaintances and companions of Daum from national and international football will also attend the celebration “to commemorate his life’s work.” Admission will be completely free for fans.
In his long career, Daum has coached a number of clubs at home and abroad. But his connection to 1. FC Cologne, for whose second team he played as an active player, was particularly close. He also began his coaching career with the Cologne amateurs, first becoming assistant coach of the FC professionals in 1985 and then head coach a year later. A second engagement in Cologne followed from 2006 to 2009, during which time the club was promoted to the Bundesliga in 2008.
Master coach with VfB
Daum coached VfB Stuttgart from 1990 to 1993 and led the Swabians to win the German championship in the 1991/92 season. A feat that he failed to achieve several times at Bayer Leverkusen (1996-2000). He came closest with the Werkself in the 1999/00 season, when Bayer 04 thought they had already secured the championship trophy on matchday 34, but lost everything with a 2-0 defeat at then newcomers SpVgg Unterhaching.
Daum died on August 24 in his adopted home of Cologne from the effects of a serious cancer illness.
